Sax Scorchers

solo saxophone edition

Reviews

This publication could well be something of a first. Its aim was to create a collection of studies for solo saxophone that included a variety of styles and ideas. In order to extend this idea to its maximum, a competition was launched on scorchmusic.com the web-publishing arm of Sibelius. The impressive response to this encouraged Nigel Wood to incorporate not only the winning entry but also three further offerings over the net. The result is a collection of 20 studies each by the hand of a different composer, spanning four continents and a huge variety of stylistic challenges.Stephen Pusey, Sheet Music Magazine, Spring Term 2002

An exciting collection of one-page 'studies' for solo. Inspired by the success of Saxtet's existing study books Karen Street's "Street Beats" and Chris Gumbley's "15 Crazy Jazz Studies", Nigel set out to tap a wider diversity of talent and has included pieces from all of Saxtet's own-playing composers, as well as three from a competition run on the Internet. The result is a wonderfully varied album whose contributors span four continents - the Punjab, the Caribbean and Tuscany are amongst the locations included, whilst the range of styles covers pop, jazz, contemporary, classical, folk, latin, bebop and funk. A brilliant book - not to be missed! (Grade 6-8+).Music News, Wood Wind & Reed, May 2002

This is a very exciting new collection from Saxtet Publications. Nigel Wood commissioned seventeen composers and saxophonists to write a one-page study for saxophone. Each was completely free to choose the style and influence brought to their original work. He also ran a competition on scorchmusic.com (the self-publishing arm of the notation software, Sibelius), which brought another three studies for the book. The result is a fascinating collection of studies by composers from four continents, and including influences from pop, jazz, contemporary, classical, folk, romantic. Latin, be-bop and funk.
Each study has its own technical difficulties, but all are great to play. My particular favourites include Rob Buckland's groovy shuffle "It's about time", the beautiful melody of Dave McGarry's "Highland Flung" (which comes with chord changes so could be played with accompaniment), and Richard Ingham's haunting melody "Distant Song", which introduces the use of some contemporary techniques. Fab.Sarah Markham, reviewer, CASS Magazine, Spring 2003

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